A Mile in His Shoes
by Mr Khan
Summary: Things come to a head in Zoro and Sanji's rivalry, then they switch bodies, and find out that they can really help each others' romantic frustrations. Non-Yaoi ZoSan SanNa ZoRo. T for language
1. Curse

A Mile in His Shoes

By Mr Khan

_I guess my ambivalence regarding CP6 was real enough, since it received a rather tepid response, so I'm going to leave it aside. I wasn't too happy writing it, and apparently the community wasn't too thrilled with it either. So I'm going to jump to something more strictly about characterization, which seems to be my forte. It's an attempt to create a story that combines ZoSan (not yaoi), SanNa, and (of course), ZoRo. It turned out that the two rivals could provide invaluable help to the other's romantic frustrations. _

Chapter 1: Curse.

"Take it! It's your problem now! Wahaha!" And with that, the man ran off down the pier. The strange, ragged looking man had run up to where the _Thousand Sunny_ sat at anchor on the docks, and had tossed a circular object wrapped in brown paper that landed on the deck's lawn. At the time, Nami and Robin were the only two on deck. None of the others were around, or marked what happened.

"Oi! Don't just pitch trash on our deck!" Nami yelled, shaking her fist at the man's departing figure. "Geez!" She picked up the thing in its brown paper wrapping and peeled it off, carefully looking at it. Familiar Beli signs filled her eyes. "Hey, Robin, come take a look at this."

"Yes, Nami-san," Robin replied, getting up from her familiar lawn-chair to examine the object that Nami held. It was an odd thing, a disk made of stone, older than old, with a square hole in the middle, and odd markings etched in the stone that radiated outward from the middle. The markings were obscured with age, smoothed away with the years. Robin frowned, it wasn't in the best condition. She couldn't see anything specific, but the general pattern of the markings were familiar…

"Well?" Nami asked eagerly, wanting to know if she had her next million-beli payout in her hands.

"It's old," Robin said, "really old. The markings on it have been obscured. I'll need more time to find out if it's worth anything, or what its exact purpose was." Nami looked crestfallen. "There is one thing I can see." Nami perked up again. "Curse. That's the only thing I can really get out of it. The disk itself is cursed, or it brings a curse, or something. You should put it back in its wrapping and set it somewhere where our nakama can't get to it for now."

"Right," Nami said, cautiously wrapping the disk back in its paper. She could only imagine what sort of havoc someone like Luffy could wreak with a curse-stone. She took it then and chose the perfect place in which to store it: Sanji's fridge. It was a room he guarded jealously from the others (especially Luffy), but she could, of course, wheedle her way in there. His virtual enslavement to her was worth putting up with his insufferable advances, she thought, though he had been getting even more annoying of late. She went below deck and ran right into Zoro, who was heading up to the deck.

"Oi, what's that?" he asked, indicating the disk.

"Nothing!" she responded sharply. "You're not allowed to touch this! Nobody is!" She couldn't risk telling the truth, Zoro knowing it was cursed would just arouse his curiosity, considering that the sword he had used up through Enies Lobby was supposed to have been cursed. And him going around to touch it would bring around the others, like Luffy, which again would be disastrous. She was soon going to regret that she shouted at him.

"Oi, marimo! What are you doing to Nami-swan?" Sanji bulled his way into the conversation. "How did you upset her?" He stood in front of Zoro, scowling at him.

"I didn't do anything, ero cook! She just flew off the handle about that damn thing she's carrying!"

"She didn't want you getting your moss all over it!"

"Just shut up!" Nami interrupted them both. Of all the annoying things Sanji did, this incessant feuding with Zoro was probably the worst. "This is going in the fridge."

Sanji again launched into one of his idiotic transports, "yesss, Nami-swan! My door of love will guard the treasure of your heart!" His voice suddenly changed "and keep shitty marimos out of there."

Instead of rising to the bait, Zoro just spat, and clomped up to the deck.

Sanji followed Nami towards his own fridge, pink hearts throbbing in his eyes. "Oh Nami-swan, you're so radiant when you're keeping a secret! Mellorine, mellorine!"

A vein bulged in Nami's forehead. _Dork. When is he going to get that I'm not interested? And if I were, he's too damn clingy._ They finally reached the fridge, and Nami carefully set the stone on a shelf. "Just make sure no-one touches it."

"Yes, Nami-swan!"

_Damn him._

Zoro stepped out onto the deck, the look on his face quite plainly said what he didn't care to: step off. Robin looked up from her book and saw him emerge. "Something wrong, Kenshi-san?" she asked, giving one of her winning smiles.

Zoro grunted, barely acknowledging her, and quickly zipped up the mast to the training room. Robin frowned again, and went back to her book. How was she supposed to respond to something like that? If Zoro wanted to keep secrets, that was fine, but it was nice to have someone sane to talk to aboard the _Thousand Sunny_. She didn't really have anyone to talk to when he was being so cold, though. _Oh well._

Training was Zoro's solution to everything, train when he was bored, train when he was happy, or in this case, train when he was frustrated. But neither any amount of weight or any number of reps seemed to break him out of his irritation. He had to get back at that little tyrant. She was always bossing everyone around, and it grated on him more than the others. He had been there longer, he was older than she. _I'm the damn first mate. I should get more respect then this._ He wasn't consumed by any particular malice, he didn't hate her or anything, he really just wanted to prove to himself that she couldn't boss him around. The only way he could do that was by finding that thing she had been carrying, and inspecting it for himself. It was a foolish urge, he knew he had nothing to gain from doing this, but his pride compelled him to. After hours of intensive training, he finally resolved to do it, but he would have to be careful about it.

In the dark, hours before dawn, Zoro made his move. Stealth was by no means the swordsman's strong suit, but he applied it here. He applied his puzzle-solving capabilities, too, a faculty he never bothered to use. Of course he didn't know the code to get in, but he knew the people who did know, aside from Sanji: Nami and Nico Robin. There had to be a reason for that, he figured, so he tried a few combinations of the numbers that their names sounded like, and eventually came up with it. _Na Mi Ni Ro, 7326!_ He stepped inside and found the object of his irrational desire: the thing in the brown-paper wrapping. He pulled it down off the shelf and was opening it cautiously when he was interrupted.

"Oi oi. What exactly are you doing in here?" Sanji had arrived, looking grimmer than death, furious that someone was violating Nami's wishes and the sanctity of his fridge. "Nami-swan's treasure! Put that down right now and get the hell out!"

"I'm allowed to look at this if I want to," Zoro said indignantly. "Nami's not going to stop me, and neither are you."

"Put it down! Don't touch it!"  
"I'll touch it if I want to!" Zoro yelled, reaching out to touch the stone disk.

"Like hell you will!" Sanji reached out to grab the disk away from Zoro. Their hands met, touching the stone disk simultaneously. Both knew they had made a mistake when they felt something akin to an electric shock roll through their bodies, and saw the square hole in the middle of the stone glow brightly. But they didn't have long to ponder their mistake, as everything quickly went black for both of them.

_Author's Note: The fridge code number, as well as the reasoning behind the number, are 100% canon, according to one of Oda's SBSes. The One Piece Wiki is very useful sometimes._


	2. Sanji is Zoro

Chapter 2: Sanji is Zoro

Sanji awoke in his usual bunk in the men's quarters on the _Thousand Sunny._ He felt abominably stiff as he stretched and got up. Always the first to get up, to perform the necessary duties of breakfast. He stood carefully, his movements feeling unusual and awkward as he narrowly avoided treading on the snoring figure of Franky. The events of the night before were mostly a blur. Something involving that shitty marimo and… _a magic stone? Gotta be a dream._ He put it out of his mind: there was work to be done.

Clumsiness plagued him throughout his efforts to prepare breakfast. He shattered a small bowl when he grasped it too hard, and kept fumbling the frying pan as he tossed the morning's eggs about. He was about half-done, his daily coffee-cakes (favorite of Robin's and also indulging Chopper's sweet tooth on occasion) were baking, eggs and rice were made, but now he wanted to try something new, something with tuna. He proceeded into the aquarium room and stopped in front of a brace of yellowfin tuna that had been caught just the day before, swimming lazily in the aquarium. He looked at them and finally had a chance to see himself, reflected in the aquarium's glass. Tall, muscled, clad in a white shirt with a light green sash, green pants, and… _green hair? Shit! _

He inspected his hands, finding they were tough and callused. _Shit!_ His arms were over-muscled, and his legs were under-muscled. _Shit!_ He pulled off his shirt and saw the final sign, the long scar running across his chest. _Shit!_ He wanted to scream, and he almost did, but then his mind caught up with him. That memory with Zoro and the stone hadn't been a dream, then, and that meant that Zoro had gotten at Nami-swan's precious stone. Which in turn meant that he had seen her forbidden stone too. He certainly couldn't let Nami know that he had defied her, or had allowed Zoro to defy her either. This had to stay secret, or Nami would kill him. He thought about it; Nami towering over him in fury. Those veins in her head were especially beautiful when she was furious. "Ahh, Nami-swan," he sighed. His face, or rather Zoro's face, melted into a rapturous expression that looked impossibly strange on that face.

"Yikes!" he yelped, seeing that odd expression in the aquarium glass, and then noticed Zoro's voice. "Whoa. Whoooooooaaa," he chuckled at how odd Zoro's voice sounded. Then he heard a noise from upstairs. The women's bedroom. _Shit!_ That had to be Nami-swan. He couldn't get caught like this, especially by her. He would definitely act weird around her (like he always did) and she would figure it out quickly. Not for nothing was she the 3rd-smartest person in the East Blue. He ran back to the kitchen as fast as Zoro's untrained legs could bear him, then hastily penned a note.

-Feeling tired, went to go nap for a while. Breakfast already made.

-Sanji

He rushed off to the one place where people would expect to find Zoro: the crow's nest. He found him, or rather found himself, assiduously pumping iron.

"Oi!" Sanji yelled, "don't abuse my hands, eh?" Zoro stuck his tongue out.

"Took you long enough to figure it out. Figured I'd train up these arms a bit."

"See what you did, marimo? It's your fault you're running around in my handsome body!"

"Ahh, nothing would've happened if you hadn't tried to stop me, funny-eye."

Sanji was dumbfounded. "F-f-funny eye?"

"That's right," Zoro replied smugly, "I understand why you grow your hair over your left eye. I'd do that too if my eye were like that."

Sanji clenched his fist angrily, but then remembered why he had come. "Look, we can't let Nami-swan find us like this. It has to be that stone."

"Duh," Zoro snorted. Sanji ignored the jibe.

"So just go get it, and we can figure out how to get back to normal."

"Why me?"

"Because you're me. It'll look weird if Zoro goes in the fridge, but Sanji's supposed to be there, right?"

Zoro was having a hard time following the conversation, "I guess…"

"You know the code, right?"

"Yeah."

"Great. Just go down there, get in the fridge, get the stone, then you forget that code or I'll kick it out of you!"

Zoro snorted, and quickly scrambled down the ladder. "Can't let him have that eye-thing hanging over me," Sanji pondered, "I wonder if he has any embarrassing deformities?" He carefully investigated his body until Zoro popped back up.

"Gone," Zoro said flatly.

"What? Where the hell could it have gone?"

"Calm down, there aren't too many people who could have taken it. Aside from the two of us, who else knows the code?"

Sanji capered with glee, "Nami-swan and Robin-chwan!"

Zoro shuddered, "please don't make my body do that. So who do we go for?"

"Huh?"

"We should split up, one to investigate Nami, the other to investigate Robin."

"Yosh! I volunteer for both!"

"It'll be quicker and less suspicious if we do it individually."

Sanji looked dejected, "I'll go with Nami-swan, then."

"Like hell you will. You act crazier around her than anyone else. She'll figure it out real quick when Zoro starts shouting "Mellorine." I'll deal with Nami, you go ask Robin."

"Fine," Sanji relented. "But you go first. We shouldn't be seen going back on deck together." Zoro nodded, opened the door, and leapt down to the deck. Sanji waited for a few minutes, thinking. Now that Zoro mentioned it, he did have feelings for Nami that were stronger than those for other women, but those feelings were veiled by his equal infatuation for all women. He couldn't help himself on that front, he was weak, and it always seemed that fate set the most beautiful women in his path (including the dusky dark-haired daily distraction that was Nico Robin), but ultimately something had developed with Nami that was real. The problem was that something was driving him to act even crazier, but he couldn't help it, again. She was intoxicating, and when she got in his blood, it was hard to think straight, and all the more so as he developed something deeper there.

And now he had to go deal with the distraction. He stood, and tried to compose himself. What would be the appropriate thing for Zoro to do here? He went to a mirror in the room and tried to set Zoro's face into a natural expression. Eventually his face was twisted into a hard scowl. Good. Now he just had to keep it that way. He had to keep that scowl when he confronted Robin. So he conjured up the most irritating thought he could. He thought of Zoro, giving the fridge code to Luffy. His fist clenched involuntarily. "Yosh! I'm ready!" He leapt down from the crow's nest.

Down on the deck, he had to navigate carefully. He had to minimize contact with those who knew Zoro well. First he fled belowdecks when he saw Brook come around, fearing that Brook might propose a sparring match. He then carefully made his way a few levels up, silently praying that Robin wasn't in the girls' room. Certainly having to go in there would be more intoxicating than he could tolerate, and Zoro would start saying some strange things indeed. Robin-chwan was no idiot either, she would figure it out equally quickly. If not the girls' bedroom, then where? The best answer was the library. He made his way upstairs quickly, then saw the library entrance with the door ajar. He crept in, carefully surveying the room, readying his mind for the sight he was about to see. Then his eyes found her: Nico Robin. His heart skipped a beat, then he again imagined Luffy raiding his fridge. His resolve hardened, and he stepped closer to her.

Robin did not acknowledge him. She felt no need to, after the cold reception that Zoro had given her yesterday. Zoro wanted his space, and that was fine with her. It wasn't worth losing her place in the book to try and bother with him. She was mildly surprised when he approached her, further surprised when he looked at her, and more surprised still when he spoke.

"Oi, Robin," he said carefully, trying to still the beating of his heart when he looked at her. She didn't help his cause at all.

"Yes, Kenshi-san?" she asked, smiling. Her smile was another intoxicant. He had to think quickly, come up with something normal. Anything normal. What was normal, something normal to say?

"What're you reading?" he finally asked.

"You'd actually be interested in this: The History of the Wano Shogunate."

_Shit. Why would marimo be interested in that?_ Sanji wracked his brain. The name was definitely familiar, but from when? Thriller Bark, that was it! That was when Zoro had been bragging about fighting an ancient Samurai from Wano country named… "Oh, Ryuuma's country?"

"Yeah, you would have liked it there. Every time a Shogun died, the greatest warriors in the land had to go through a series of trials to become the next Shogun."

"Sounds like my kinda country," Sanji said, trying to be sure he sounded like Zoro. "Was Ryuuma a Shogun?"

"Ryuuma came later in their history. I haven't gotten there yet." Sanji was in immense emotional pain. He was severely repressing a "Mellorine" that was growing in his chest, he was desperate to get the information he needed, and he was filled with rage from the mental picture he was burning into his mind to try and keep himself under control. He had to get to the conversation around to what he needed.

"But I figured you would be working on that weird object Nami found yesterday." Robin looked a little confused.

"I checked Cook-san's fridge for it this morning, but it was gone. Nami must be looking at it." Sanji tried to keep his composure. He couldn't look dejected. He stood there for a second, getting his emotions under control.

"Well, I gotta get going," he said nonchalantly. He was proud of himself, that statement at least had sounded perfectly like Zoro. He carefully walked out of the library.

"Zoro," Robin said as he stepped through the door. Sanji's heart skipped a beat again: she had said his name, well, Zoro's name, but that was huge for her. "Thanks for stopping by."

_Praise from Robin-chwan! Be still my heart! _"No problem," he finally said, staying in character as closely as possible. He then left.

Robin listened to Kenshi-san's steps as he headed down the stairs. There was nothing like a conversation with Zoro to put her in a good mood. A man who so rarely came out of his shell, and was quite reserved when he did, was perfect for her. She herself had spent the better part of her life in a similar shell. She really valued Zoro's company, when she actually thought about it. It was good to have someone sane to talk to, when he was actually willing to talk. "Now there, Zoro, was that so hard?" She said, and returned to her book.

_You have to wonder exactly what Sanji is hiding under those bangs: it has never been shown in the manga. There was a normal eye there in the anime, but apparently those sightings were only accidental. Zoro's part and the conclusion will be forthcoming, but I have to write a term paper, so it may take some time._


	3. Zoro is Sanji

Chapter 3: Zoro is Sanji

Zoro awoke face-down on the floor of the crows' nest gym. This was a familiar position for the swordsman: after a night drowned in ale, or sake, or ale and sake, there was nothing like the hard Adam-Wood floor to rest on. Certainly more comfortable than his bunk, and a generally quieter place to wake up in, instead of coping with Luffy's, Usopp's, and especially Franky's snoring. But something felt off this morning. His breath smelled fresh against the floor, his head felt relatively clear, and his legs didn't feel like they were made of lead. There was hair in his face, too, which was definitely a new feeling for him. What had he done last night? He couldn't remember beyond a few strange images: that ero-cook and some sort of magic stone. So it wasn't a normal hangover, this was a special kind of hangover, or something. He wasn't sure.

He stood up with surprising agility. His legs felt springy and powerful. _Damn, I feel peppy. What the hell happened last night? _He stretched and yawned, brushing his hands past his face. _Eh? Why's there hair in my eyes?_ He finally opened his eyes. _And why can't I see right?_ He leapt lightly over to the mirror, still marveling at the spring in his step. He brushed the hair out of his face and took a good look. _What the… Sanji?_ He spun around quickly. "Oi! What are you doing here?" Of course, there was no one there. Bemused, he turned back around, and looked in the mirror. Yeah, there was Sanji again, but where was he? As the realization began to dawn on him, he raised his hand cautiously, and saw Sanji do the same. He cringed severely, as several thoughts rushed to his head at the same time. The memory of last night returned to him, his irrational desire to touch that thing that Nami had yesterday, him acting on it, discovering the fridge code, fighting with Sanji, the stone glowing, then… nothing. And then waking up on the floor in Sanji's body.

_I guess she had a good reason for not wanting us to touch it after all. But why did it have to be that ero-cook? And how the hell does he stand having all this hair?_ He angrily swatted the hair away from the left side of Sanji's face, and caught a glimpse of something in the mirror. He paused, a little bit scared by what he had seen, or thought he had seen. He brushed Sanji's golden hair aside, dreading what he might see. When he got a good look at it, he was amazed and disgusted simultaneously. "Whoa," he said audibly. _I'd_ _put up with all this hair if I had this._ _Geez, look at it._ He poked at his left eye gently. _Damn._ He carefully traced the outline of the horrible thing in his head, when his repose was interrupted. Sanji's senses were just as attuned as his own, it seemed, as he heard a door opening far below. He rushed over to the window, looked down, and saw Nami emerging from the women's bedroom and on to the deck. He cringed and quickly ducked.

It finally dawned on him that he was going to be in a _lot_ of trouble for this. How much was she going to charge him this time? She had seemed really put out about keeping that stone a secret… 100,000 Beli? 200,000? No way. Not again. She wasn't going to find out about this. Okay, he was safe for now. Nobody came up here unless they were on guard duty, but instead everyone would be down at breakfast. Damnit, breakfast. Sanji was supposed to make breakfast. Was Sanji running around in his body and shouting "Mellorine" at Nami and Robin? People were going to get suspicious whatever happened, even if Sanji kept his cool. He stood up quickly, ready to take swift action, but then he calmed down. He couldn't do anything about it right now, so he could only wait. Whatever happened, happened: it was up to Sanji to make sure Nami didn't figure it out. With nothing to do, he defaulted to his old standard: he picked up a pair of free weights and began working. Sanji's arms could use a bit of a workout.

When Sanji finally arrived they consulted on what needed to be done. Zoro was relieved to learn they hadn't been found out, and was further pleased to let Sanji know that he knew about his deformed eye. Sanji proposed a sensible solution, however, that Zoro should simply go to the fridge himself and retrieve the stone. Being Sanji, he was supposed to be in the fridge, so it shouldn't arouse any suspicion. He leapt down from the crow's nest and walked to the kitchen. Confidence was second nature to the swordsman, so he certainly didn't look out of place; a cook determinedly striding towards his domain. He noticed that his strides were less bouncy than before; he was already getting accustomed to Sanji's body. He shivered inwardly. Sanji's body was definitely something he didn't want to get accustomed to. As he entered the kitchen and approached the fridge, he was suddenly ambushed by Luffy.

"Oi! Sanji! I want more breakfast!"

"Beat it," Zoro said dismissively, waving a hand. Sanji was mad enough at him for knowing the code, it would only get worse if Luffy found out. Instead of taking his advice, Luffy began poking him in the back of the head.

"Foooood!" he said as he poked him.

"I said beat it!" Zoro roared, turning about swiftly and striking Luffy firmly on the head… with his hand. _Damnit._

"You, used your hands," Luffy said slowly. _Damnit_. Was the whole game up already? "Cooool!" Luffy finally said, breaking the tension. "Your attack power is going to double!"

Zoro sighed inwardly. Good old Luffy. "Right," he finally said. "Twice the power to kick your ass if you come poking around my kitchen again. Go find something to do." Luffy looked downcast.

"Stingy old Sanji." He slouched off. With Luffy gone, Zoro was free to investigate the fridge. Upon entry, he found the stone missing from where it had been yesterday. Frustrated, he began shuffling items around on the shelves. It had to be there, it had to. Finally he ran out of places to look and sighed. Of course this wasn't going to be resolved easily. _Oh well._

He returned to the crow's nest to deliver the disappointing news. Sanji took it well enough, and actually became quite cheerful when he figured out that the stone had to be in either Nami or Robin's possession. He was freshly disappointed when Zoro forbid him from investigating both Nami and Robin, though agreed it would be suspicious. Zoro also managed to dissuade him from going to investigate Nami. Sanji just couldn't control himself around Nami: she drove him to transports of amorous delight in a way that no other did, not even Robin. He would deal with Nami: she had nothing on him aside from their general camaraderie, so he could engage her without worry. Sanji would investigate Robin. Furthermore, they agreed to depart separately. It would look weird if they left the crow's nest together to go interrogate Nami and Robin, especially if the two women were in the same location.

With their plan set, Zoro departed first. He leapt down to the deck, cautiously taking in his surroundings. Again he was impressed with Sanji's highly attuned senses. It made sense, if he thought about it: aside from being a prodigious fighter, Sanji had to be attuned to the most subtle changes in sight, sound, and smell, to manage multiple cooking dishes with perfection. First there was a gentle sipping sound from the other side of the deck. Brook was taking his tea. A pestle was scratching somewhere behind him, Chopper mixing medicine. The faintest clanking sound came from below: Franky working on something. From somewhere else he could just barely hear laughter from Luffy and Usopp.

_Great._ He could hear everyone except the one woman he wanted to find, and the one woman he needed to avoid. The swordsman went through life with a great degree of certainty about many things: friends, enemies, good and evil, his own strength. He lived in a solid foundation of certainty and liked it that way. There was only one uncertainty that plagued his life, and that was Nico Robin. It wasn't a question of trusting her any more, oh no. He had lost any suspicion he had of her sinister motives back at Skypiea. He was equally certain that she wasn't hiding anything about her past anymore, a doubt that had been cast away at Enies Lobby.

But he was actually less comfortable with his current relationship with her than when he had considered her an enemy. Considering her an enemy made things easy: keep her at arm's length and shut her out, but also keep an eye on her. Now… well, he wasn't sure, and that's what bugged him the most. He wasn't sure whether she was just another nakama, like Nami or any of the others, or whether she was something more. He had no real reason to think of her as something more, which was part of the problem. He had little time to concern himself with the affairs of love or beauty, though he would admit that she was exceptional, but her beauty was not something he took into serious consideration.

Her own actions didn't help clear up the swordsman's confusion. She still acted deceptive a lot, responding to things that pleased her, annoyed her, or perturbed her with the same enigmatic smile (sometimes accompanied with a giggle). Sometimes it seemed like she was giving him a chance to open up to her, but he could never really tell what she was really feeling, whether she was just being polite, being genuinely friendly, or more intimately concerned about his thoughts and feelings. Dealing with her was thus an annoyance, since he always found himself checking and re-checking everything that had been said after every little encounter.

Either way, he was glad it was Sanji's job to deal with her. That relationship at least seemed to be on steady terms: Sanji came on to her, and she gently but firmly deferred him. Much like how his relationship with Nami was certain: she would yell at him, and he would put up with it, usually. Last night had been an exception, and he still wasn't sure why he had reacted like that. He would go in, figure out if she had the stone, and move out.

He hoped that Nami wasn't in the girls' room. It would raise some awkward questions to have Sanji go in the girls' room. The only other places she was likely to be in were the library, or her favorite resting-place: the pair of Mikan trees. Those were closest, so he decided to inspect them first. His instincts paid off: there she was. She was resting on a lawn chair, just outside the shade of the Mikan trees, not napping, but sunning herself contemplatively. The stone wasn't on her person, or anywhere around her. _Damn._ Now he would have to bother her. She definitely didn't look like she wanted a visit from Sanji right now, but that couldn't be avoided. Unlike Sanji, who was agonizing over every word in his conversation with Robin, Zoro simply jumped right in. This needed to get done. "Yo, Nami," he said striding towards her.

Nami glared at him. _Can't I get a moment's peace away from this guy_? Nami braced herself for another barrage of love-laced praise, fearing that her morning constitution was about to be shattered. A second passed, two. Sanji did not thrust himself upon her. _Now what's he want? _She thought, wondering if something was wrong to make Sanji act this reserved.

Zoro got to the point again. "Do you know what happened to that thing you put in my fridge yesterday?"

"No, what happened to it?"

"It's gone. So you didn't take it?"

"Why do you want to know so badly?"

"It's my fridge, isn't it? I have to know who's poking around in there. Gotta make sure Luffy hasn't been raiding it or anything."

Nami laughed. "Yeah. We have enough trouble feeding him already."

Zoro returned to the point. "Did Robin take it?"

"Probably. She wanted to look it over."

Zoro's curiosity was piqued. "Why would she want to look at it?"

"It was a really old stone with some odd markings on it. She was pretty sure the markings indicated some sort of curse." Nami was surprised at herself for having told him. She had been so determined to keep the secret of the stone, well, a secret. What was going on?

"Curse stone? Where did she get something like that?"

"She didn't get it herself. Some random guy ran up to the ship when we were back at port yesterday and tossed it aboard."

"Maybe he was trying to sabotage us," Zoro pondered.

"He didn't look like it. He just looked desperate."

"Must really be cursed, then."

"Yeah," Nami replied, her curiosity now roused as well. She perked up suddenly, "hey, you wanna go with me to see if Robin's found anything out?"

Zoro grinned. If only Sanji were actually here to hear Nami ask him to go anywhere with her. But he knew what his answer had to be. It would be disastrous to go see Robin when Sanji was potentially still talking to her, and just a bad idea to push his luck in general. "Nah, I've gotta get going. Time to start lunch." With that, he walked away, leaving a thoroughly confused Nami in his wake.

_What's gotten into him?_ She wondered. _What's gotten into me?_ She had long ago learned to keep Sanji at arm's length. He would take any invitation to get closer on her part as a sign to shower her with his damnable affections. Thus she had boiled their relationship down to a utilitarian one: say only what needs to be said to get things done. If she needed to throw a little affection his way to get him to do something for her, so be it, but only if it was of immediate benefit to her. Otherwise she would find herself drowning in a Mellorine sea all the time.

That was why she was so confused about the prior conversation. Sanji had been acting normal, something he usually only did in the gravest of circumstances. Her having a normal conversation with Sanji usually meant that they were in a tight spot, but that couldn't be the case here. Things were fine: a beautiful, sunny day with nothing around to speak of, certainly no enemies or major in-crew conflicts.

What had surprised her most about the proceedings was not so much how Sanji had acted, but how she had responded. She opened right up to normal Sanji, going so far as to propose doing something with him. Madness, to have her propose doing anything with him. It should have invited a massive fit of swooning from Sanji. It seemed that he was quite charming indeed when he wasn't drowning in his own love-sickness, charming enough to get the clever young navigator to lower her guard and really engage him. It made a good deal of sense, anyway, it was his in-your-face clinginess that made him really off-putting. Without his annoying tendencies, he was just a handsome young cook, a man of skill, grace, and conviction. She definitely wouldn't object to having normal Sanji around.

"I guess sometimes you get better results by not trying so hard," she said, as she continued to lie in the sun and stare contemplatively at the clouds above.

_This one ran longer than its predecessor, though it was actually easier to do, given that it basically mirrors Sanji's chapter, so I didn't have to do much plot thinking. I was going to release this together with the conclusion, but it ended up being big enough to merit release on its own._


	4. Curse Broken

Chapter 4: Curse Broken

Sanji was on his way back to the crow's nest, his mind still awash the conflicting emotions that had bombarded him in his encounter with Nico Robin, as well as pondering the more immediate implications of what she had said. She didn't have the stone, which had to mean that Nami had it. For a second, he surged with envy. _Damn Zoro, getting to make friends with Nami-swan in my body._ Hopefully Zoro had gotten hold of it. Just as he leapt up to grab the ladder to the crow's nest, Zoro's highly attuned ears caught something, maybe. It was obscured by the clang of his body hitting the metal rungs, but he thought he heard the distinctive sound of a body part dissolving into flower petals. He wasn't certain, but he hastened up the ladder all the quicker.

Having departed earlier, and having finished his task quicker either way, Zoro had returned to the crow's nest first, impatiently awaiting Sanji's return. He was getting a little too comfortable in this body. Any longer and it would start to throw off his well-honed instincts. Nami didn't have it, so Robin had to, and hopefully Sanji had put that charm of his to good use and managed to get it off her. Otherwise they would have to concoct a plan to trick her and get it back themselves. He was just about to start compulsively weightlifting again when Sanji popped up into the chamber. "Well…?" Zoro began to say, but Sanji quickly put a finger in front of his lips, indicating silence. Sanji furtively scurried over to where Zoro sat and whispered something in his ear. _Oh, geez._ Zoro looked around carefully, then slowly stood up and said in an abnormally loud and clear voice,

"Oi! What are you doing in here, marimo?"

Sanji began walking around slowly, carefully checking the corners of the room, looking around the piles of free weights, and responded in an equally clear voice "Shouldn't I be asking that? This is my spot, get your own!"

Zoro began searching around as well. "You wanna go right now?" he roared, unconvincingly. As he said this, Sanji motioned him over. There it was. Behind a rather large leg press machine, the two of them saw an ear sticking out of the metal. They looked at each other, both wondering what to do. They could leave, of course, or communicate in whispers, but any of that would be deemed suspicious. Robin was too smart for either of those. Zoro nudged Sanji, they had to keep up the conversation.

"Bring it!" he yelled. Sanji then came up with an idea. He undid the green bandana that usually held its place on Zoro's left arm. He waved the bandana in the air a little. Zoro nodded, then kicked him.

"Oi, what was that for?" Sanji yelled again.

Zoro grabbed the bandana from him in annoyance, and carefully dangled it above the ear. He then made a buzzing noise "bzzzt," and began gently tickling the ear with the edge of the bandana. The ear twitched, then dissolved.

"That was close," Zoro breathed.

"Good job getting rid of it," Sanji replied.

"Nah, it was your idea, I just made it better," Zoro said jokingly.

Sanji scowled, then grinned at his erstwhile rival, nakama, and friend. "But it was a good idea, making her think a bug got in there."

"Damn her," Zoro said. "She knows we're looking for her stone."

"Her stone? She doesn't have it, Nami does."

"No… Nami doesn't have it."

"What?" Sanji exclaimed incredulously. "Then who has it?"

"It's gotta be Robin," Zoro asserted angrily, envisioning one of her trademark duplicitous smiles in his head, "she's hiding it from us."

"You don't trust her, do you?" Sanji asked pointedly.

"No, I mean, yes, I mean… I don't know," Zoro replied, confused. He paused, then finally said "I trust her, but I really don't understand her."

Sanji reached for his chest, where his pack of cigarettes would have been, if he were in the right body. He realized this, and tried to reach for the pack of cigarettes in the pocket of Zoro's chest, grabbed it, then pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and started smoking. He was mildly surprised that Zoro didn't try to stop him.

"You don't understand? Idiot."

"What do you mean?" Zoro growled.

"She likes you, idiot."

Zoro was at a loss for words. "What? Likes me?"

"Yeah. Likes. You," Sanji said, putting emphasis on each word. He blew out a puff of smoke. "She made it obvious enough."

"What? Robin acting lovesick?"

"Of course not. She makes it obvious in her own way."

Zoro narrowed his eyes. "How?"

"She likes talking to you, obviously. Haven't you noticed that?"

Zoro frowned, thinking. Now that he thought back on it, she did seem to inquire after his feelings fairly often, certainly more so than the others, who generally respected his personal space. He hadn't given it much thought, given how short a conversation with her usually was. As he thought further, he realized that such conversations were important for someone like her, though. She had spent so much of her life closed off from others. She wasn't the type of person who would pour her soul out to anyone, and she probably treasured having someone around with whom she could have a normal conversation.

"I guess," Zoro finally said. "She doesn't open up much, so every conversation has meaning for her."

"Bingo," Sanji replied, taking another drag on the cigarette. "Your cluelessness has helped you so far, but you should figure out what you want out of this pretty soon, whether you want to go along with this. If you let this relationship stagnate, you'll throw away something beautiful, then get stuck like I am with Nami."

They both stood silently for a bit, listening to the distant sounds of the waves lapping the hull of the _Thousand Sunny._ Zoro wasn't certain about what he wanted, since until just a moment ago, he hadn't been aware of the status of his relationship with Robin, unaware that her conduct had actually been a series of quasi-romantic advances. She wanted a friend, that much was certain, but the question still endured as to whether she wanted something more. As a nakama, he couldn't shut her out, he decided, and he figured he would decide whether he wanted something more later, as he grew to know her more. There was a lot there he could grow to like. Blunt, sexy, powerful, confident, she had many virtues. Romantic infatuation was still something foreign to him, but she would be a perfectly comfortable partner with which to journey into that zone.

After some minutes of quiet contemplation, Zoro finally spoke, changing the course of the conversation entirely. "Did you say you were stuck with Nami?"

"Ahh, Nami-swan," Sanji sighed. "Yeah, I ruined any serious chances with her long ago, treating her like any other woman. I flirted too much."

"Tell me something I don't know," Zoro said bluntly.

Sanji didn't get angry, but merely sighed again. "It's my fault. I treated her like just another pretty girl from the beginning, and that's really all she was at one point. I don't know when, but she became different at some point."

"You sure haven't acted like it." Zoro replied.

"That's part of the problem. I'm still infatuated with her just as a girl, aside from how I really feel. I'm aware of the way she orders me around. It's cute, it's adorable, but it's a sign that she doesn't want anything to do with me."

Zoro sighed. He hadn't wanted to tell him this, afraid it might launch him into another one of his amorous transports, but it bugged him seeing Sanji this dejected. "That's not what I saw."

"Huh?"

"When I was talking to her, she kinda… asked to help me look for the stone."

"What? She asked to do something with me? How?"

"I dunno. I was just talking with her about the stone. She suggested Robin might have it, and asked to go with me."

"How?" Sanji insisted.

"I dunno," Zoro replied again, "I was just… talking. Yeah," he realized, "I wasn't mindlessly flirting with her like you would've."

Sanji took another puff. "So… I have a chance." He set the cigarette down and began leaping for joy. "I have a chance! Nami-swaaaaan!"

Zoro smacked him again. "Oi oi. You have a chance, but only if you cut out that crap."

The moment was over, it seemed, as Sanji responded by saying "You're just jealous, shitty marimo!"

Zoro didn't rise to the bait. "At least wait until we get back in our own bodies to start acting like that."

Sanji came back to his senses. "Shit. So what are we going to do now?"

"We have to search the ship front to back, but do it in shifts so we don't arouse more suspicion than we already have. I'll go first." Zoro approached the hatch to leave.

"Yo, Sanji," he turned around and approached Sanji again, extending his hand. "Thank you."

Sanji extended his hand too. "No, thank you."

As their hands clasped, a different feeling emerged. Not the strong electrical shock that had removed them from their bodies, but a feeling of warmth. Then heat, then extreme heat.

"Ow!" Zoro yelled, freeing himself from the handshake and jumping up and down. "Damn that's hot!" He glared over at Sanji. "What the hell!" then realized that he was looking at Sanji.

"Oi, Zoro," Sanji said, looking at one another. They were back. Both of them took stock of their own bodies: hands, clothing, and equipment.

"We did it!" they yelled simultaneously, hugging one another, then realized that they were hugging.

"Get off me, curly-cook!" Zoro yelled.

"That goes double for you!" Sanji returned. They glared at one another angrily, then the newfound tension was broken when the hatch opened again, this time revealing Nami, closely followed by Robin.

"Just what are you guys up to?" Nami asked suspiciously.

"Yo Nami, Robin," Sanji said normally.

Nami and Robin exchanged glances, somewhat vexed by the lack of Mellorine.

"We were wondering why you two were so curious about the stone, or how you even knew what it was." Robin said.

"Sanji found it missing," Zoro replied. "He knew Nami wanted to keep it secret, he was concerned."

"But why did he go to you?" Nami asked, still suspicious.

"I suspected him first," Sanji said. "But once I cleared him, he decided to help me." Nami wasn't especially convinced by that, but Robin decided to go with it.

"Just as Nami-san told Cook-san, it's a cursed stone, though I don't know what kind of curse it is. It's very important that we find it."

"Fine," Nami said, still suspicious. "Come on, Sanji."

For a split second, hearts surged in Sanji's eyes, but he knew what was at stake, and repressed it. "Right, let's go."

"Let's go too, Zoro," Robin added. The four of them departed.

It was a sore trial for Sanji, much as it had been before, but much worse. In her torturous cunning, Nami had decided it was necessary for them to search the girls' room. Sanji was careful, very careful, searching only in normal places like under the beds, while Nami sifted through the drawers. "It isn't likely to be in here," Nami said, "but Robin and I are the only ones other than you who could've taken it, so we have to rule it out."

"It is a cursed stone, too," Sanji added. "You and Robin were the only two to come in close contact with it, it's possible it may have affected you."

_Robin._ Nami thought. _Not Robin-chwan, just Robin._ What was going on? "Sanji, what's wrong with you?" she finally asked.

"Nothing," Sanji said reassuringly. "Nothing wrong with having a normal conversation, right?"

Nami smiled. "Yeah." Whatever had changed him, it had been for the better. She was going to have to re-evaluate her entire relationship with Sanji, and it was going to be a great experience.

Meanwhile, Zoro and Robin were searching around the bow of the _Thousand Sunny. _Robin had said that while it was unlikely, the little chamber that housed the controls for the Gaon Cannon would be the ideal place to hide something on the ship, aside from Sanji's fridge. Zoro agreed. After she found the mechanism to open the firing chamber, they went inside. There wasn't much to search, but they needed to be thorough, and searched everywhere they could. Zoro took the opportunity to broach a conversation.

"Nami said someone threw the stone on the ship?"

"Yes. Whoever it was seemed desperate to get rid of it."

"What do you think it could be?"

"Most likely it comes from an ancient South Blue society. They built those stones for a variety of curse effects."

"Like trading bodies?" Zoro said without thinking.

Robin glanced at him and smiled. "That was one of them, yes."

Zoro blushed. "I mean, that was just… something that they could do, right?"

Robin laughed gently. "You've had a busy day, haven't you?"

Zoro smiled, rubbing his head embarrassedly, "Yeah."

"You're a fascinating person, Zoro," Robin said.

Before Zoro could respond, their moment was interrupted by a cacophony of noises.

"Oi, Luffy! Stop it!"

"Wooohoho!" Followed by an explosion. The two of them leapt up on deck, as the others gathered. Usopp rushed up from belowdecks as smoke belched out.

"It's horrible!"

Nami and Sanji emerged from the girls' room. "What was that?" Nami yelled.

Chopper came out, too. "An explosion?"

Brook woke up from the nap he had sunk into, "Yoho?"

Suddenly Franky came up on deck, or someone who was apparently Franky. "Coool! Look at me! I'm Franky!" he started dancing around. "I feel really Mega!"

A rather battered-looking Luffy emerged, clutching the stone in one hand. "It's super! I always feel Super!"

Everyone was shocked, but Sanji and Zoro struggled to hide smirks. _Here we go again._

_The End._

_Originally I was going to end it right when Nami and Robin confronted Zoro and Sanji, but figured it would be a bit too abrupt, and wanted to emphasize the positive benefits on their relationships. Comments? Did it work, was I way off base, was it too OoC or just right? Reviews are appreciated._


End file.
